Skulduggery – Crow

Anton – Bear

Ghastly – Panda

Dexter – Wolf

Saracen – Weasel

Erskine – Snake

Solomon – Raven

Chapter 39

The thirteenth of December crept up on them and before Valkyrie even knew it, she was getting ready for the ball with Tanith.

"I still can't believe he hasn't asked," Valkyrie said, helping tie Tanith into her dress.

"Me either," she said, standing straight and looking in the mirror. "I figured he'd do it when he gave me the dress."

"Me too." She tied it in a loose bow at the bottom and tucked the excess in the dress, then took the sash that went around the middle and tied that in a more elaborate, pretty bow over the little hole the corset ribbons had just gone into.

Tanith's dress was beautiful, and they had already decided it was something Panda very specifically wanted to see Tanith in. It was deep blue, with the corset top and sash of course, and had hand sewn sparkles and silver thread making vines from the floor right up to the sweetheart neckline. The royal blue was perfect with Tanith's blonde hair, which was still in curlers.

Taking the large shawl, they were using to protect the dresses from makeup, Valkyrie threw it over Tanith. Then it was her turn. She had a black dress this time, with pink heals below, though she doubted anyone would see. The dress was a ballgown, like Tanith's, and the skirt had a layer of netting over the top with sparkles over just like stars in the night sky. She had helped design and make it in her free time.

Hers was easy to get in and after the corset had been done up, she wrapped up in her own shawl in hopes of not getting any hairspray or makeup on the black as night dress and go to putting on her makeup.

They had planned on nails and hair and everything, but they had ended up watching a movie, and then they had a nap, and then they were attacked and had to get a shower and now they only had a little while left. Tanith had woken up and immediately put her hair in rollers, so she would look a lot more presentable than Valkyrie would.

After a slap job of makeup, Tanith put Valkyrie's hair up in pin rolls and Valkyrie only had a little bit she had to use the hair curlers on. She helped with Tanith's hair, which just needed taking out of rollers and curling one or two loose bits, and they were done. Only half an hour late.

They ran in their bare feet downstairs and jumped into the car they were using – Gordon's old one – and Tanith drove them to the Sanctuary ball which was being held in an old, large building they had rented. Unknown to the other guests, it was also a trial run to see if people liked the building and area, so they could buy it as the new Sanctuary. In the car, Valkyrie and Tanith put their shoes on, hopped out the car, nodded to each other with as much dignity and elegance they had, and with arms hooked, walked to the door.

"Co-Head Detective Valkyrie Cain and Miss Tanith Low," Valkyrie said to the man at the door. He was very posh looking, and Reapers stood on either side of him personally.

He started searching through his notes for their names, which was stupid because they were personally invited, but they waited none the less. Finally, he found their names and ticked them off. "There – have a nice night ladies."

He bowed to them, and they curtsied just slightly. Valkyrie then nodded to the two Reapers and they bowed to her.

The man looked shocked.

"Have a safe night," she murmured to them, and they walked into the entrance, following the signs into the ballroom.

"What was that?" Tanith asked incredulously.

"I'll explain later," Valkyrie muttered. "Something I found in Gordon's study." It was actually something Gordon had told her via the Echo stone, but what's the difference really? "Can you see anyone?"

"Detective Cain," Meritorious said, sidling up next to her.

She smiled. "Hello Grand Mage. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. You look lovely this evening, by the way, certainly older than you are."

Valkyrie laughed and noticed a group of ladies had suddenly appeared behind them. She leaned in and whispered. "You're not using me to run away, are you, sir?"

He cleared his throat. "Of course not."

"Of course, I just wanted to make sure." She stood straight. "Have you seen my family?"

"The Dead Men are scattered around. They asked me to bring you two to them when you arrived."

"And why are you on collection duty?" Tanith asked, taking one of his elbows and Valkyrie the other.

He sighed and lowered his voice further. "I don't like the crowds. I don't like all these women following me. I am happy with my work and I do not want a wife. Apparently, six hundred years avoiding people means nothing to them."

Valkyrie grinned. "Just pawn them off on Dexter and Saracen, they won't mind. Or Anton and Erskine if you start getting desperate."

"You could probably throw the easier ones at Fletcher too," Tanith said snidely.

Meritorious laughed, or rumbled was probably more appropriate. "That young man. I can't believe how much confidence is in children these days. I know you have always been outspoken, Detective, but I put that down to Mr Edgley and the Dead Men. But he is something else."

"He's annoying. He doesn't know I'm dating Nadia," she admitted, still looking around for her as they slowly walked. "He wouldn't leave me alone for ages, and there was a bit of a fight because he thought I was 'leading him on'. I wasn't, but now he's apologised and been really nice and I don't want to cause another argument."

"Detective," Meritorious said slowly. "You are a minor, and a Sanctuary official. If he has a tantrum, send him to me and I'll put him in his place. This is my government, my Sanctuary, my country and my party. You are allowed to do whatever you want."

"Even send desperate women at you?"

"Not that. I'll tell Mr Renn you want to date him if you do that."

They had found Crow and Panda by then and Meritorious let them go. "What's this threatening about?" Crow asked.

"Just a little joke," Valkyrie grinned.

Meritorious gave her a wink and bowed to the two girls. "Have a lovely nice ladies. Both of you must save me a dance."

They said their goodbyes and after a curtsy, he was gone into another crowd, the hoard of women running and then stilling like some strange game of 'What time is it, Mr Wolf'.

"You are late," Crow said, putting a hand on Valkyrie's shoulder.

She moved it off. "I'm fourteen, please stop doing that. I look small and childish when you do that."

"You don't mind it normally," he said, tilting his head.

"I'm normally not at a ball searching out my girlfriend who is constantly and annoyingly older than me."

"It's a year, that's nothing," Crow said, but didn't push. "I think she was dragged off to see some businessmen in the other room by her mother. Her father is at the bar."

"I saw. I'll find her in a moment then."

There was a moments silence and Panda coughed, gaining their attention. He looked at Tanith was a deep blush and clasped his hands in front of him. "You look lovely Miss Low."

She grinned and curtsied to him. "Thank you, it's all thanks to you after all. You look quite dashing yourself."

He went redder and held his hand out. "Would you let me get you a drink?"

She took his hand and they wandered off to get a drink together. Valkyrie grinned. "I mean, he didn't ask her out but that was still pretty close."

Crow shook his head. "He needs to ask her out soon. I'm hoping someone else tries to tonight, so he might begin to think about it."

They left their 'place' in the hall and Valkyrie asked him if he had a date.

"Not exactly," Crow said, looking around himself.

"Sooo, is the person you were going to, want to or otherwise would have asked at the party, just not as your date?" She asked.

He sighed. "That might be correct. But don't tell anyone."

"I won't." She would.

They found Nadia standing with her mother and well-known businessmen. Valkyrie knew about at least half of them. After her meeting with Gordon, she would have to get to know about a third of those men well, and of the some of the others, she was the anonymous benefactor of, and an investor in the rest. She had large favours, help and stocks in every man Nadia was talking to. Not that any of them knew it was her. They had known Gordon if it wasn't anonymous, not her. It would be fun to play with them.

"Good evening," she said, taking Nadia's hand. "And happy birthday."

"Thank you," she said quietly back. "Valkyrie, this is Mr Holiday, Mr Harjun, Mr Green, Mr Swift, Mr Random, Mr Brink, Mr Apúrate, and Mr Bagh. Sirs, this is Co-Head and Second Detective to the Irish Sanctuary, Valkyrie Cain. This is her adopted father, Co-Head and First Detective Skulduggery Pleasant."

The men all said their hello's and were very interested in the two of them, practically ignoring Nadia and Mrs Keena despite Crow and herself standing on either side of the pair.

"Detective Cain," Mr Holiday said. Gordon had known his father, Gordon had told her, but Mr Holiday had taken over the company only four years ago after his father had a back injury. Gordon didn't like Mr Holiday. Neither men knew Gordon was an investor. "I hear you are dating Miss Robin."

Valkyrie bowed her head as Gordon had told her. They had decided since she was out in the world more than him, it was safe and likely a very good idea for them to eventually know who she was. Not until she was in complete control of the businesses though. "I am. We met at Mr Gifre's party last year."

He nodded and smiled at her without smiling – a movement of the lips and no more. "I also hear you quite like to antagonise Mr Bliss. I have never heard of someone who dared do that."

She smiled. "Yes, well, he gives back as much as he gets. With less emotion. I hear you just signed a deal with Mr Swift here."

Mr Swift nodded and jumped into the conversation with more excitement. "Yes, oh yes, we are launching a new line of products together. With my herbal remedies and magic, and Mr Holiday's beauty lines, we have perfected the most amazing products. We predict them to be a huge success."

"I hope they are," Valkyrie said, then turned to Nadia. "Sweet, would you like to get a drink?"

She accepted and after saying their goodbyes, they escaped with Mrs Keena and Crow off to the bar. They kept ahead of Mrs Keena by seconds, forcing her politeness to make her want to talk to Crow who was standing beside her. It worked and Nadia and herself got to the bar ahead of them. Valkyrie bought them cranberry juices like they had at their last event.

"To the birthday girl," Valkyrie grinned.

"It's not my birthday anymore," Nadia said, rolling her eyes. "But thank you. Why were you so late?"

"I got messed up and lost track of time. It's all good now though. Oh, look! Tanith and Panda!"

They both watched Tanith and Panda who were dancing together between the other couples. Both were grinning, and they were talking about something or other that clearly amused them. Or maybe they were just lovestruck.

"They're actually so cute!" Nadia whispered. "We should dance soon."

"We will, but not yet. I don't want to risk falling in these shoes too early, you know?"

"I do. I got away with flats though," Nadia said, grinning manically. "My heals got in a fire somehow. No idea how that happened."

"Tragic. Hello Mrs Keena," she said quickly, seeing she had suddenly reappeared beside them with a drink.

"Valkyrie, dear, it's lovely to see you again. I love your dress," she smiled. Valkyrie's previous efforts to get her happy with her had obviously faded in the month and a bit they hadn't seen each other. "How have you been?"

"I'm grand, I've been able to work on a few cases. The Grand Mage spoke to me on the way in and I think he's really beginning to like me. Certainly more than Crow."

Crow grunted. "Yes, that is strange."

"You know the Elders well, hum?" Mrs Keena asked, sipping her drink and pretending she was being casual. It didn't work well.

"Quite well, yeah," Valkyrie said. "Like I said, Meritorious gets on with me very well, and I get on with Elder Crow when I see her, but she is naturally quiet I think, so I don't exactly talk to her much, so it's not the same. Now, I know a lot about Guild, but I hate him and he hates me more. He has a, er, superiority complex."

"I didn't realise. I assumed they would have all gotten on with you," she said mildly.

Valkyrie smiled tightly, hoping she wasn't going to suddenly decide she hated Valkyrie the same way she sometimes suddenly praised her. "I don't believe many people get on with him. His biggest achievements are getting married and his daughter I believe. Everything else is pure arrogance."

"You can say that again," Crow muttered. "But, this is a Sanctuary party I suppose, so let's not inflate the man's ego too much."

"Sure, sure. Hey, Nadia, do you want to dance?"

She did and they did – for almost an hour, they danced to every song on that dancefloor, giggling, smiling and talking the night away, long past when they were tired, they just wanted to talk alone and be in each other's arms. It was a lot of fun. When it was time for speeches, they joined the Dead Men near the front, holding hands. Meritorious looked at her and he might have given her a shadow of a wink, but he also might not have, she couldn't tell. Elder Crow was in a beautiful, elegant navy dress, something different as she never wore anything other than black, something she shared with her Necromancer brethren. Guild was wearing a suit and his wife stood behind him. She looked pretty but mostly bored.

"Welcome, all, to this Sanctuary ball," Meritorious said, smiling to the crowd. "It is an honour to work beside so many mages that stand here today. I hope you have enjoyed the wine, the music and the company. We have hours to go, so I encourage you to continue way into the night. Before we do that, I wanted to thank the organisers of this party, headed by Erskine Ravel, Dead Man and a friend of mine. He did a wonderful job, far better than I thought he would."

There was a spattering of laughter, mostly female. Erskine nodded and muttered that it was better than he thought he'd make too.

"But I have to also credit Detective Valkyrie Cain who suggested the idea as a way of bringing the Sanctuary closer together, to remind us that although our work is for the betterment of our country, it is also fundamentally about keeping ourselves a tightknit workforce that can power through any obstacle, upset and change. I thank her for reminding not only myself of that but also all of you. I want you to meet each other, gain closer bonds to people within different departments, and to enjoy your time tonight. I don't want to drag this out, so please have fun. The buffet is now open, including cakes and chocolates – also at the suggestion of our youngest, and certainly brightest and intelligent Detective, Miss Cain."

Valkyrie smiled to herself. The first part of the speech about her was rubbish, but the last part was true and she did think it was a good idea to have treats at a party. She deserved a reward for that one.

Around midnight, right after fireworks, Nadia was dragged off by her father for a dance and Valkyrie went wondering for fun. She wasn't disappointed.

"Raven," she said happily, finding Mr Solomon Wreath standing in the corner observing the party. He smiled back at her.

"Valkyrie, it is nice to see you again," he said, holding her hand. It wasn't a shake, just a hold in mid-air for a moment, a hug on a miniscule level. "I heard you were punished for speaking with me last time."

"I was, but he's apparently over it. I suppose we'll find out tonight. How have you been?"

"I'm fine, I solved a few cases within the Temple and a few outside, so it's going well. I heard recently that Tenebrae, our High Priest, has come down with a sickness but that I should not worry about it. I found bloodied tissues in his bin though, so I'll be looking more closely into that another time. I hope you are well?"

"Very, I'm grand. I'm having a lovely time. Did you get your invitation on time?"

"Sometime today, so well enough. I assume you put me on the list?"

"As a plus one of Crow's," Valkyrie grinned. "He doesn't know though so don't say anything. It just amused me."

"He's coming up behind you."

"Is he?" She turned just as he reached them and put a hand on her shoulder. She pushed it off again and stood to the side of them, forcing the two men to face each other.

"Wreath," Crow said. It wasn't cold or mean though, and he even bowed his head. Progress.

"Skulduggery, it's nice to see you again," Raven said neutrally. "You'll be happy to hear my nose healed nicely."

"I can see that."

Valkyrie really wanted to hear what they would say but rushed away nonetheless. She had a girlfriend to see!

Unfortunately, that same girlfriend had to leave soon, and after a quick kiss and last dance, Valkyrie walked her to the door and saw her off with her parents. The party was boring and slow after that – everyone else had either a date or someone pawned onto them by Meritorious. By the time three in the morning came and they were leaving, she was tired. She watched from the car as Crow talked to Raven in the dark, standing close together and in quiet, rushed tones. She had no idea what they said, and never asked, but when he was walking away, Raven watched him with a smiled and Crow even turned and waved to him goodbye. She smiled and the city lights drifted her to sleep.

Awww that was a cute party! I'm assuming everyone has guessed where I'm going with their pairing. What do you all think about it? I've never read a Skul/Sol match before so I want to have some fun with them! :)